All Courses

• Acting Fundamentals

  This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.

• Practical R Programming

  This course covers a practical set of skills vital to modern statistics and data science in handling messy, real-world data. Throughout the course, students will practice reproducible research with version control and literate programming. They will think algorithmically with base R objects, control flow, functions, and iteration.

• Self, Culture and Society 3 (10)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The sequence starts with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society. Students then consider the cultural and social constitution of the self, foregrounding the exploration of sexuality, gender, and race. In the third course of the sequence, students critically examine dominant discourses of science, individuality, and alterity, keeping an eye towards the application of social theory to contemporary concerns. Beginning with post-modern, post-colonial, and other critiques of sciences of self, culture, and society (as articulated by Kuhn, Foucault, and Said), the course investigates how new theories arise and new problems are addressed, how new perspectives (more global, more inclusive) test and challenge, and how social scientists change, renew, and improve their insights. The course focuses on topics of contemporary concern, including the human impact on the environment, feminism outside the West, and the rise of global cities. Classes are conducted as discussion seminars, rather than lectures, focused on the texts assigned. The focus will be on understanding complex arguments regarding the nature of modern social life.

• Intro to Genres: Writing for TV: The Writers’ Room

  In this course, you’ll learn the craft of writing for television by collaboratively developing a pilot script for an original television series set in the South Side of Chicago. Modeled on the “writers’ room,” we’ll research and develop the concept, characters, the outline, and create a plan for the series. In addition to being introduced to the fundamentals of storytelling through lectures, discussions, screenings, and script analysis, you’ll also work collaboratively with a team, constructing a daily agenda, brainstorming, researching, pitching, discussing ideas, and composing in screenwriting format. By the end of this hands-on course, you will be armed with a set of techniques and skills that will support your professional development as a writer.

• Discrete Mathematics

  This course emphasizes mathematical discovery and rigorous proof, which are illustrated on a refreshing variety of accessible and useful topics.

• Statistical Methods and Applications

  This course introduces statistical techniques and methods of data analysis, including the use of statistical software. Examples are drawn from the biological, physical, and social sciences.

• Reading Cultures: Collection, Travel, Exchange II - 21

  This section of Reading Cultures considers the centrality of movement, migration and travel to the study of culture. Turning to texts such as Homer’s Odyssey, Amitav Ghosh's In An Antique Land, and Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place, we ask how cultures travel and change, and analyze the ways that language, narrative, and objects function as mediums of cultural movement and transmission.

• Reading Cultures: Collection, Travel, Exchange II - 20

  This section of Reading Cultures considers the centrality of movement, migration and travel to the study of culture. Turning to texts such as Homer’s Odyssey, Amitav Ghosh's In An Antique Land, and Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place, we ask how cultures travel and change, and analyze the ways that language, narrative, and objects function as mediums of cultural movement and transmission.

• Mechanics

  Topics include particle motion, Newton's Laws, work and energy, systems of particles, rigid-body motion, gravitation, oscillations, and special relativity.

• Electricity & Magnetism

  Topics include electric fields, Gauss' law, electric potential, capacitors, DC circuits, magnetic fields, Ampere's law, induction, Faraday's law, AC circuits, Maxwell's equations, and electromagnetic waves.

• Introduction to Mathematical Probability

  This course covers fundamentals and axioms; combinatorial probability; conditional probability and independence; binomial, Poisson, and normal distributions; the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem; and random variables and generating functions.

• Quantitative Portfolio Management and Algorithmic Trading

  This course teaches quantitative finance and algorithmic trading with an approach that emphasizes computation and application. The first half of the course covers key tools for “quants” via case studies in quantitative investment that illustrate allocation, attribution, pricing, and risk management. You will have a chance to learn classic models as well as more modern, computational approaches, all illustrated with application. The second half of the course focuses on designing, coding, and testing automated trading strategies in Python, with particular consideration to market models, infrastructure, and order execution.

• Archival Methods and Historical Thinking

  Archival Methods & Historical Thinking interrogates the concepts, theories, and practices of the archive from a historical perspective.

• Introduction to Computer Science I

  This course is the first of a pair of courses that are designed to introduce students to computer science and will help them build computational skills, such as abstraction and decomposition, and will cover basic algorithms and data structures.

• Exoplanets

  The past two decades have witnessed the discovery of planets in orbit around other stars and the characterization of extra-Solar (exo-) planetary systems. We are now able to place our Solar System into the context of other worlds and a surprising conclusion that most planetary systems look nothing like our own.

• Introduction to Biochemistry

  This course is an introductory biochemistry course, intended to provide basic knowledge of chemical processes underlying cellular metabolism.

• Comprehensive General Chemistry 3

  This is the third in a three-course sequence that is a comprehensive survey of modern descriptive, inorganic, and physical chemistry for students with a good secondary school exposure to general chemistry. We will cover atomic and molecular theories, chemical periodicity, chemical reactivity and bonding, chemical equilibria, acid-base equilibria, solubility equilibria, phase equilibria, thermodynamics, electrochemistry, kinetics, quantum mechanics, and nuclear chemistry. Examples will be drawn from chemical, biological, and materials systems. The laboratory portion includes an introduction to quantitative measurements, investigation of the properties of the important elements and their compounds, and experiments associated with the common ions and their separation and identification.

• The Drug Discovery Process: from Lead to the Clinic

  Over the course of the past century, advances in the medical arts have substantially changed the arc of the human experience. Indeed, average lifespans have more than doubled, some ailments like polio and smallpox have essentially been eradicated, and overall quality of life has substantively improved. Yet, despite our current abilities, innumerable challenges remain. They include cases of antibiotic resistance for which we have no available treatments, our inability to cure cancer, and the increased incidence of ailments such as obesity and depression that might result, in part, from elements of modern life. This course seeks to provide a full perspective on the current state of the drug discovery process, from how initial lead compounds are identified, to how they are optimized through both rational design as well as computational modelling methods, to how process-level scale chemistry is achieved to fuel clinical trials, to intellectual property and the FDA approval process, to the clinic, to ultimately addressing the ramifications of unintended side-effects discovered once used in a large population of patients.

• Comprehensive General Chemistry 2

  This is the second in a three-course sequence that is a comprehensive survey of modern descriptive, inorganic, and physical chemistry for students with a good secondary school exposure to general chemistry.

• Inquiry-based Exploration of Biology

  In this course students will be able to conduct their own research projects to experience how biologists frame questions and test hypotheses. This inquiry-based approach permits students to learn fundamental biological principles while carrying out scientific experiments and expanding our knowledge of living systems.

• Introduction to Computational Biology

  What can a person’s genome reveal? Could it predict the diseases they may develop? Modern biology produces vast amounts of data, and analyzing this data requires mathematical and computational approaches. The first part of the course is devoted to biological information and the models and computational techniques used to make sense of it. Major advances in understanding how life works at the molecular level have revolutionized biology. The interactions of large molecules (macromolecules) produce functioning organelles and cells, and molecular mishaps lead to disease. The second part of the class is devoted to the structure and function of macromolecules and the computational models to visualize and quantify the properties of these molecules.

• Forensic Biology: “Who done it?” – DNA tells the story

  This course is designed to introduce the field of forensic biology to those with an introductory biology background.

• Readings in World Literature II

  The theme for this course of Readings in World Literature is "Autobiography/ Writing the Self."

• Readings in World Literature I

  The theme for the course of Readings in World Literature is "The Epic".

• Reading Cultures: Collection, Travel, Exchange I - 11

  This course of Reading Cultures is devoted to the analysis of "collection" as a form of cultural activity.

• ZZZ Placeholder Pre-College Class

  ZZZ Placeholder Class Testing

• ZZZ Placeholder BOTH Class

• Reading Cultures: Collection, Travel, Exchange I - 10

  This course in the Reading Cultures sequence is devoted to the analysis of "collection" as a form of cultural activity. Reading texts such as Ovid's

• Media Aesthetics: Image, Text, Sound I

  This course focuses on images, imitation, and seeing. Images may seem to simply reflect the real, but they just as often distort or distance viewers from it.

• Media Aesthetics: Image, Text, Sound II

  This course focuses on writing, reading, and signs.

• Human Being and Citizen II

  In this course in this sequence, we examine conceptions of the human good in connection with practices of the self as they pertain to virtue, the social order, spiritual beliefs and practices, and community.

• History of Western Civilization 3

  This sequence fulfills the general education requirement in civilization studies. The purpose of this three-course sequence is (1) to introduce students to the principles of historical thought and to provide them with the critical tools for analyzing texts produced in the distant or near past, (2) to acquaint them with some of the more important epochs in the development of European civilization since the sixth century B.C.E, and (3) to assist them in discovering the developmental connections between these various epochs.

• Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast - September Term

  This course presents the science behind the forecast of global warming to enable the student to evaluate the likelihood and potential severity of anthropogenic climate change in the coming centuries. It includes an overview of the physics of the greenhouse effect, including comparisons with Venus and Mars; predictions and reliability of climate model forecasts of the greenhouse world.

• Marketing Management

  The objective of the course is to provide an intro to marketing strategy. The course develops a common framework (3Cs/4Ps) to analyze real world problems presented in business cases and synthesize recommendations addressing strategic marketing issues. Numerous tools used to support the framework are also introduced. Learning goals:

• Introduction to Data Science II

  This course is the second of a two-quarter systematic introduction to the foundations of data science, as well as to practical considerations in data analysis.

• Introduction to Data Science I

  Data science provides tools for gaining insight into specific problems using data, through computation, statistics and visualization. This course introduces students to all aspects of a data analysis process: from posing questions, designing data collection strategies, management+storing and processing of data, exploratory tools to visualization, statistical inference, prediction, interpretation and communication of results. Simple techniques for data analysis are used to illustrate both effective and fallacious uses of data science tools. Although this course is designed to be at the level of mathematical sciences courses in the Core, with little background required, you will develop computational skills that will allow you to analyze data. Computation will be done using Python and Jupyter Notebook.

• Building the New Venture

  Building the New Venture is a crash course in business delivered simultaneously with learning how to start an entrepreneurial venture. It is designed for undergraduate students with a curiosity about business and particularly entrepreneurship and small business or not-for profit organizations. It is not necessary that students be planning to start a venture in the near or even distant future. Each week will feature a specific entrepreneurial skill. For those who may be interested in starting or running a business or non-profit, this class will provide an essential foundation for the process, skills and resources required as well as the opportunities available.

• Linear Algebra

  This course takes a concrete approach to the basic topics of linear algebra. Topics include vector geometry, systems of linear equations, vector spaces, matrices and determinants, and eigenvalue problems.

• Introduction to GIS and Spatial Analysis

  This course provides an introduction and overview of how spatial thinking is translated into specific methods to handle geographic information and the statistical analysis of such information. This is not a course to learn a specific GIS software program. The goal is to learn how to think about spatial aspects of research questions, as they pertain to how the data are collected, organized and transformed, and how these spatial aspects affect statistical methods. The focus is on research questions relevant in the social sciences, which inspires the selection of the particular methods that are covered. Examples include spatial data integration (spatial join), transformations between different spatial scales (overlay), the computation of “spatial” variables (distance, buffer, shortest path), geovisualization, visual analytics, and the assessment of spatial autocorrelation (the lack of independence among spatial variables). The methods will be illustrated by means of open source software such as QGIS and R.

• Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences II

  This course covers multivariable calculus: functions of more than one variable, parameterized curves and vector fields, partial derivatives and vector derivatives (div/grad/curl), double and triple integrals, line and surface integrals, and the fundamental theorems of vector calculus in two and three dimensions (Green/Gauss/Stokes). This is the second in a sequence of mathematics courses for physical sciences majors.

• Comprehensive General Chemistry 1

  This is the first in a three-course sequence that is a comprehensive survey of modern descriptive, inorganic, and physical chemistry for students with a good secondary school exposure to general chemistry.

• Organic Chemistry Workshop

  Organic chemistry is a critical course for many, particularly those seeking careers in the medical arts as well as an array of scientific disciplines. However, as its content is both unique and substantively distinct from many science courses that students have taken previously, it has developed a reputation as being a course that is challenging, memorization-based, and extremely hard to master.

• Drawing and the Making of Architecture

  This course focuses on the practice of drawing in the making of architecture. It explores the act of tracing lines on a surface as the foundation of design: a word that evokes through its own origins the very moment of architectural invention. As the most direct expression of the architect’s ideas and an operative form of non-verbal thinking, the physical response of the hand to media contributes crucially to the creative process.

• Visual Language: On Images (20)

  Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content.

• Visual Language: On Images (21)

  Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content.

• Visual Language: On Images (22)

  Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content.

• Waves, Optics & Heat

  Topics include mechanical waves, sound, light, polarization, reflection and refraction, interference, diffraction, geometrical optics, heat, kinetic theory, and thermodynamics.

• On Time and Space

  This studio course focuses on the fundamentals of pre-production, production, and post-production techniques using digital video.

• Self, Culture and Society 1 (11)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The first course in the sequence deals with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society. The social theories of Ibn Khaldun, Smith, Marx, and Weber, supplemented by historical and ethnographic works, serve as points of departure for considering the characterizing features of the modern world. Particular emphasis is given to socioeconomic structure, theories of historical change, possibilities for individual freedom, the meaning of work, and globalization. Classes are conducted as discussion seminars, rather than lectures, focused on the texts assigned. The focus will be on understanding complex arguments regarding the nature of modern social life.

• Introduction to Python Programming with Applications to Astrophysics

  This course is intended for students who are planning to major in Astrophysics to introduce them to programming using Python.

• Self, Culture and Society 1 (12)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The first course in the sequence deals with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society. The social theories of Ibn Khaldun, Smith, Marx, and Weber, supplemented by historical and ethnographic works, serve as points of departure for considering the characterizing features of the modern world. Particular emphasis is given to socioeconomic structure, theories of historical change, possibilities for individual freedom, the meaning of work, and globalization. Classes are conducted as discussion seminars, rather than lectures, focused on the texts assigned. The focus will be on understanding complex arguments regarding the nature of modern social life.

• Human Being and Citizen I

  The course in this sequence explores the ways that ancient literary, philosophical, and religious texts (from the Greek, Mesopotamian, and Abrahamic traditions) conceive of, express ideals about, and articulate tensions in conceptions of human and divine law and justice, affective life, human striving, and the human being as such.

• Self, Culture and Society 2 (12)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The sequence starts with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society. In the second course of the sequence, students consider the cultural and social constitution of the self, foregrounding the exploration of sexuality, gender, and race and tackle questions about the construction of self and society. The works of Durkheim, Freud, de Beauvoir, Fanon, and others inform investigation of symbolic representation, the strength of social forces, the unconscious, culture, ethics and violence, sexuality, gender, and race. Classes are conducted as discussion seminars, rather than lectures, focused on the texts assigned. The focus will be on understanding complex arguments regarding the nature of modern social life.

• Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast - Session 2

  This course presents the science behind the forecast of global warming to enable the student to evaluate the likelihood and potential severity of anthropogenic climate change in the coming centuries. It includes an overview of the physics of the greenhouse effect, including comparisons with Venus and Mars as well as predictions and reliability of climate model forecasts of the greenhouse world.

• Ghost Test Class

  Testing

• Biomolecules of Life - Session 2

  This course will introduce students to the molecular building blocks of life (i.e., proteins, including enzymes, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids) and explain their structure and function.

• Creative Writing

  "What is education?" asks the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard: "I suppose that education was the curriculum one had to run through in order to catch up with oneself." When we speak of "finding your voice" or "writing your story" or "mining your material," we speak of things you already possess but that take work to realize. Creative Writing is that work. In pushing you to write more originally and persuasively than ever before, this course asks you to slow down, to pay attention to words, sentences, logic, gaps, and also to race ahead, to test new techniques and experiments and to be receptive to new sources of inspiration. Exercises will range from making simple lists to devising plots, from describing a random piece of grass to inventing an original creature. Categories like fiction, poetry, and memoir will overlap and intermingle. In this rigorous, writing- and reading-intensive course, you will be asked to write daily, both in directed exercises and personally-driven compositions, to conference one-on-one with instructors, to read widely, to edit your peers, and to compose longer submissions for the same peer edits. After three weeks, you will know your own writing better. Students write in and out of class-time hours and complete nightly reading assignments. Active class participation is required.

• Biotechnology for the 21st Century - Session 2

  This course is designed to provide a stimulating introduction to the world of biotechnology.

• Explorations in Neuroscience: Neurons, Behavior, and Beyond

  How does the brain work, and how do changes in brain structure and function give rise to neurological conditions and deficits? Developing a deeper understanding of the brain has been deemed one of the 21st century’s Grand Challenges, and this course will draw on different research methodologies to begin unraveling one of life’s greatest mysteries.

• Biomolecules of Life - Session 1

  This course will introduce students to the molecular building blocks of life (i.e., proteins, including enzymes, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids) and explain their structure and function.

• Mind and Reality

  This course brings together the philosophy and the sciences of the mind to examine fundamental questions about our subjective experience of the world, ourselves, and others such as: What is consciousness? Do we all experience and represent the world in the same way? Can we know other minds? What is it like to be other animals? Can machines perceive, think, or feel?

• The Philosophy of Love

  Love is one of the most important, profound things in life; and yet, it is notoriously hard to articulate just what love is.

• Think Like a Physicist: The Physics Problem Solver’s Toolkit - Session 1

  Unlock the foundations of quantum mechanics in a hands-on, high-school-friendly course that builds real problem-solving muscle. Designed for motivated high school students, the class gently introduces the language of modern quantum physics while sharpening the math tools you’ll use everywhere in STEM. You’ll practice turning words into models, choosing smart coordinates, drawing clear diagrams, understanding basics of linear algebra and differential equations, and communicating clean, step-by-step solutions. Algebra and trigonometry are the main prerequisites; any calculus that appears is introduced slowly and supported, but familiarity with calculus would definitely help.

• Pathways in Molecular Engineering

  The emerging field of Molecular Engineering brings together concepts from chemical and mechanical engineering, materials science, physics, and nanotechnology to innovate across a wide range of areas, such as energy storage and harvesting, water purification, and manufacturing electronic, biomedical, and mechanical devices. Molecular engineers may build new materials or objects from the molecule up, or even create new molecules that do not exist in nature. This course will provide an overview of the basic components of engineering -- design principles, modeling, and optimization -- as they can be applied at the molecular level in order to address real-world problems. In addition to lectures, discussions, and labs, students will have the opportunity to use super computers to create models which will inform their optimization efforts. Overall, the program will lead participants beyond the boundaries of traditional scientific disciplines into the intersection of physical, chemical, computational, and engineering sciences – the forefront of technological problem-solving – so that they are able to engage in the lateral, multi-disciplinary thinking that is required to solve some of the most fundamental problems facing society today.

• Introduction to Creative Coding

  This course is an introduction to programming, using exercises in graphic design and digital art to motivate and employ basic tools of computation (such as variables, conditional logic, and procedural abstraction). We will write code in JavaScript and related languages and we will work with a variety of digital media, including vector graphics, raster images, animations, and web applications.

• Woodson Summer Scholars

  Named in honor of

• Think Like a Physicist: The Physics Problem Solver’s Toolkit - Session 2

  Unlock the foundations of quantum mechanics in a hands-on, high-school-friendly course that builds real problem-solving muscle. Designed for motivated high school students, the class gently introduces the language of modern quantum physics while sharpening the math tools you’ll use everywhere in STEM. You’ll practice turning words into models, choosing smart coordinates, drawing clear diagrams, understanding basics of linear algebra and differential equations, and communicating clean, step-by-step solutions. Algebra and trigonometry are the main prerequisites; any calculus that appears is introduced slowly and supported, but familiarity with calculus would definitely help. While the course is explicitly quantum-forward, we balance abstract ideas with intuitive, calculational practice and occasional classical examples to keep your instincts grounded. Lectures flow into guided examples, collaborative problem-solving, and lots of structured practice with immediate feedback. We emphasize clarity over speed, friendly pacing, and approachable notation, so you can build confidence with states, measurements, and superpositions without getting lost in formalism. By the end, you’ll have a practical toolkit for starting—and finishing—challenging physics problems, plus a solid conceptual foothold in the foundations of quantum mechanics. You’ll leave ready for advanced study and with the confidence to tackle new problems creatively and precisely.

• Gravitation to Levitation: Physics from Supernova to Superconductor (Session 2)

  This course introduces students to the foundational concepts of fundamental interactions and its varied applications, such as gravity, electromagnetism, light, particle physics, and quantum mechanics.

• Gravitation to Levitation: Physics from Supernova to Superconductor (Session 1)

  This course introduces students to the foundational concepts of fundamental interactions and its varied applications, such as gravity, electromagnetism, light, particle physics, and quantum mechanics. Students will see how the laws of physics are universal and how the principles of physics can help us understand a range of phenomena from black holes to biology, superconductors to supernovas.

• Contagion: Infectious Agents & Diseases - Session 2

  COVID, Zika, Ebola, HIV, SARS…in our increasingly globalized and mobile world, infectious diseases can emerge and spread faster than ever before, making epidemics, even pandemics, a real possibility. That, together with increasing antibiotic resistance, makes understanding where these threats come from and how we can control their spread one of the most urgent issues of our time. In this three-week course, students will learn about the origin, biology, and evolution of some of the most feared viruses, such as Ebola, HIV, and Influenza, and lethal bacteria such as E. coli. We will explore the nature of emerging diseases and will use particular examples to discover how we can predict and control their spread. Our dependence on microbes from an evolutionary point of view will also be discussed. Students will have access to the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities at the University of Chicago for hands-on activities such as PCR, CRISPR, DNA sequencing, DNA sequence analysis, viral culture and antibody studies all applied to the study of infections and immunity (and will not be exposed to dangerous materials).

• Organic Chemistry in the Lab and the Field

  This course is designed to provide students with a unique and hands-on experience that combines ecology, ethnobotany, and organic chemistry in a way that will bring scientific principles to life.

• What is the Meaning of Life? An Introduction to Existentialism

  How can I live a meaningful human life? What does it mean to be authentic, and why do our lives often feel inauthentic? Am I really free to choose my own life? How can we face the threat of nihilism that emerges in a modern, secular world? These were just some of the questions that gripped existentialist thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone De Beauvoir, and Albert Camus in the wake of the horrors of World War II. Rejecting the idea that philosophy should be detached from the world, these thinkers found philosophical significance in everyday experiences such as boredom, embodiment, anxiety, despair, and angst. Most of all, they passionately sought an answer to the question: how should we live? This course will serve as a broad introduction to the rich tradition of existentialist thought.

• Future Intelligence Institute

  The Future Intelligence Institute (FII) invites a diverse cohort of outstanding high school students to explore the cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence.

• Engineering and Technology for Medicine

  The future of medicine relies on innovative technologies, with chronic diseases representing some of the greatest health challenges of our time. This course provides an overview of the pathobiology and current state of medical care of a range of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative diseases, and explores fields in engineering and technology that are seeking to improve disease outcomes, such as medical imaging, bioinstrumentation, wearable and implantable devices, biomaterials, cell and tissue engineering, and the emergence of Artificial Intelligence.

• Creating Computer Games for Learning

  As the computing field continues to advance, interdisciplinary applications of computer science are of increasing importance. This class focuses on a fun approach to the challenge and necessity of designing for human users: creating computer games for learning.

• Biotechnology for the 21st Century - Session 1

  This course is designed to provide a stimulating introduction to the world of biotechnology.

• Probability for Life Sciences: Understanding Randomness, Noise, and Risk

  How do we know if a new drug is effective? Why are genetic results from 23andMe given as percentages? What makes a medical study trustworthy, or misleading? Questions in biology and medicine are fundamentally shaped by randomness: genetic mutations arise by chance, populations fluctuate unpredictably, and medical tests yield uncertain results. This course equips students with the mathematical tools to quantify uncertainty, interpret data critically, and recognize common statistical pitfalls that plague scientific literature and public health communication. Students will explore probability distributions that model biological phenomena, from the binomial distribution describing genetic inheritance to the normal distribution governing measurement error. Through the lens of Bayesian reasoning, they'll learn how to update beliefs based on evidence – a critical skill for interpreting diagnostic tests, evaluating experimental results, and understanding scientific consensus.

• Neubauer Phoenix STEM Summer Scholars

  From creating the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear reaction to discovering the mathematical theory of black holes, the University of Chicago has long been a pioneer in groundbreaking STEM research. Our students and professors are fearless and creative problem solvers, who engage in interdisciplinary thinking, and who value diverse perspectives. Diversity is a fundamental driver of innovation and progress in STEM fields. By uniting diverse students and faculty for more than a century, UChicago has fostered one of the most unique—and decorated—intellectual communities in the world. The Neubauer Phoenix STEM Summer Program offers the opportunity for outstanding students of all backgrounds who value diversity of thought and experience with an interest in STEM-related areas to be exposed to UChicago’s distinctive approach and abundant research and academic opportunities in STEM fields.

• Quantum Computing: An Introduction

  This course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary endeavor of quantum computing. The course will focus on developing intuition about the quantum phenomena underlying quantum computing (superposition and entanglement), and their benefits and limitations.

• Contagion: Infectious Agents & Diseases - Session 1

  COVID, Zika, Ebola, HIV, SARS…in our increasingly globalized and mobile world, infectious diseases can emerge and spread faster than ever before, making epidemics, even pandemics, a real possibility. That, together with increasing antibiotic resistance, makes understanding where these threats come from and how we can control their spread one of the most urgent issues of our time. In this three-week course, students will learn about the origin, biology, and evolution of some of the most feared viruses, such as Ebola, HIV, and Influenza, and lethal bacteria such as E. coli. We will explore the nature of emerging diseases and will use particular examples to discover how we can predict and control their spread. Our dependence on microbes from an evolutionary point of view will also be discussed. Students will have access to the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities at the University of Chicago for hands-on activities such as PCR, CRISPR, DNA sequencing, DNA sequence analysis, viral culture and antibody studies all applied to the study of infections and immunity (and will not be exposed to dangerous materials).

• Summer Intensive Introductory Ancient Greek

  Summer Introductory Ancient Greek comprises a thorough introduction to the Classical Greek language in eight weeks.

• Summer Intensive Elementary Japanese

  You will develop four skills—speaking, writing, listening, and reading. You are expected to spend four to six hours outside of class each day for review and preparation for the following day. This 8-week summer intensive course is equivalent to three quarters of Elementary Japanese (10100-10300) during the regular academic year (27 weeks). Please complete the following tasks as preparation before starting the course: 1. Access the Japanese site on Canvas and review the syllabus and files under the "Modules" section. 2. Order the textbook Genki (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, 3rd edition). Please see the instructions on Canvas for how to purchase it online. Also, prior knowledge of the Japanese writing system (Hiragana and Katakana, and preferably Kanji, or Chinese characters) is helpful for successfully completing this course. As soon as possible before the first day, please start learning how to read and write Hiragana and Katakana by using the textbook and completing the Japanese alphabet preparation available on Canvas.

• Summer Intensive Introductory German

  Summer Introductory German is an online 7-week course designed for students wishing to develop intermediate proficiency in reading, writing, listening and speaking for use in everyday communication. You will work with authentic materials as well as gain familiarity with the different cultures of the German-speaking countries. Summer Introductory German is the equivalent of the 10100-10200-10300 sequence offered during the regular academic year at the University of Chicago, and satisfies the university competency requirement.

• Summer Intensive Elementary French

  Summer Intensive Elementary French is an eight-week course designed to help students with no prior French develop intermediate proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening for use in everyday communication.

• A Brief History of Doom: Ragnarok & Other Apocalypses

  This course examines the idea of the “end of the world” as conceived in Old Norse, biblical, and other traditions, ancient and modern. Topics to be discussed include visions of the apocalypse and afterlife in Norse Mythology (Snorri’s Edda, The Poetic Edda, The Saga of the Volsungs), the Book of Revelation, Shakespeare’s King Lear, Wagner’s Ring cycle, and Marvel’s Thor franchise. Students will consider how thinking about “the end” has shaped the present in varied historical and cultural contexts.

• Modern Latin American Art

  This course investigates the development of Latin American art from the early nineteenth century to the present. Through the study of representative artists, movements, and works, we will trace this history from the formation of art academies in newly independent Latin American nations through the region’s rise to prominence in an increasingly global art world.

• Nutritional Science

  This course examines the underlying biological mechanisms of nutrient utilization in humans and the scientific basis for setting human nutritional requirements. The relationships between food choices and human health are also explored. Students consider how to assess the validity of scientific research that provides the basis for advice about how to eat healthfully. Class assignments are designed to help students apply their knowledge by critiquing their nutritional lifestyle, nutritional health claims, and/or current nutrition policy issues.

• Stars

  At the beginning of the 20th century, two astronomers: Ejnar Hertzprung and Henry Norris Russell independently took catalogues of stars and plotted their brightness as a function of their color. The result, now known as the HR diagram, was to become one of the most influential diagrams in astrophysics. It showed that, contrary to one's naive expectation, the distribution of stars was highly structured. The efforts to understand the HR diagram extended for the better part of the 20th century and paralleled the development of modern physics. In this course we will use the HR diagram as a starting point to address two fundamental questions: what is a star? And how does it evolve? This will be a scientific journey in which we will describe the physical processes determine the inner workings of stars. How they manage to be so hot, so bright and so remarkably long lived1. We will explain how stars drive the chemical evolution of the universe by assembling heavier elements out of lighter ones. Why some stars at the end of their lives become white dwarfs and slowly fade away (die with a whimper) while others end their lives in spectacular explosions know as supernovae that are so bright that can be seen clear across the universe (die with a bang). The sun is as bright as 100 million, million, million, million 40 Watts light bulbs. It burns 400 million metric tons of hydrogen per second. Yet, it has been doing that for 4.5 billion years and will continue to do so for another 4.5 billion years. Pretty impressive, wouldn't you say?

• Summer Intensive Intermediate Latin

  Summer Intermediate Latin combines extensive reading of texts with a comprehensive review of classical grammar and syntax; it prepares students for advanced courses in Latin and for the use of Latin texts in the course of their research.

• Summer Intensive Elementary Spanish

  Summer Intensive Elementary Spanish is an eight-week course which is designed to help students with no prior Spanish develop intermediate proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening for use in everyday communication.

• It's Not Easy Being Green: An Introduction to Plant Biology

  During this course students will obtain a broad tour of plant biology as we explore the evolution, reproduction, physiology, genetics, and ecology of plants. We will explore the importance of plants to human society. Emphasis will also be placed on understanding scientific research - from experimental design to data analysis and future implications.

• Media Art and Design Practice

  This studio-based course explores the practice, conventions, and boundaries of contemporary media art and design. This can encompass areas as diverse as interactive installation, app design, and the Internet meme.

• Introduction to the Arts of the Italian Renaissance

  This course will familiarize students with developments in the art production in Italy from the 15th through the early 17th centuries. The course will survey a broad range of objects and settings, and familiarize students with relevant media and techniques, as well as important intellectual, social, and political developments that informed the production and reception of art in the period. Students will hone their skills in visual analysis and their ability to engage art and express positions and observations about art orally and in writing. The major assignments for the class will include a presentation and a final project. Students will prepare daily discursive or creative responses to the readings and study the responses of their peers to engage in a collaborative, object-based critical inquiry. Whenever possible, we shall prioritize objects in local collections to which we are more likely to gain access during or after the conclusion of the course. Background readings will be complemented by selected original texts in translation and exemplary art historical scholarship on the period.

• Introduction to Quantitative Modeling in Biology

  Although mathematics and biology have traditionally not gotten along, recent advances in molecular biology and medicine have made biological experiments essentially quantitative. This course introduces mathematical ideas that are useful for understanding and analyzing biological data, including data description and fitting, hypothesis testing and Bayesian thinking, Markov models, and differential equations. Students acquire hands-on experience working with data and implementing mathematical models computationally using the R programming language. The two main goals are to acquire computational skills and conceptual familiarity with mathematical models used in biological research.

• Summer Intensive Intermediate Ancient Greek

  Summer Intensive Intermediate Greek combines extensive reading of texts with a comprehensive review of Classical grammar and syntax; it prepares students for advanced courses in Greek and for the use of Greek texts in their research. Texts studied are taken from a variety of representative and important Classical authors, and include prose works from e.g. Plato, Herodotus, Lysias or Thucydides, and poetry works from e.g. Euripides, Sophocles or Homer.

• Research in the Biological Sciences

  This four-week intensive training program is designed to expose students to a broad range of molecular, microbiological, and cell biological techniques currently used in research laboratories. Students are immersed in the research experience, giving them a taste of "life at the bench". Using a project-based approach, the course progresses from a survey of basic lab techniques to the application of current molecular techniques in cell biology, genetics, developmental biology and cancer biology. After two weeks of basic training, the students spend the remainder of the course working on an independent project. Most of a typical RIBS day is spent in lab with lectures given when needed to provide background and context for the experiments. Communication skills are important in science. RIBS students will have weekly writing assignments, and will keep a detailed lab notebook. We will read original research articles and students will participate in group presentations. Students will also attend weekly lunch time seminars given by research faculty. The course ends with a research forum in which the students present the results of their projects. Successful completion of the course will give participants the experience and confidence to work in a research laboratory.

• Stones and Bones

  Join the Field Museum for a four-week intensive practicum in paleontology in Chicago and Wyoming. Go into the field and behind the scenes at the Field Museum to learn how fossils are collected, analyzed, and conserved, as you work alongside museum scientists in the lab and in the field. Stones and Bones gives you a unique opportunity to participate in the paleontological study carried out by the museum.

• Sarah Baartman through Schitt's Creek: An Introduction to Gender and Popular Culture

  Throughout the twentieth century, numerous theorists have argued that genders are learned, enacted, and ascribed identities, worked out through interaction. As such, the production of gender as category is carried out in relation to cultural models and artifacts people use to make sense of, model and reject gendered identities, characteristics, and roles. This undergraduate course takes popular culture, including film, television, literature, and social media, as a starting point for understanding the often taken-for granted characteristics deemed gendered in Western culture and elsewhere. Attending to race, class, sexuality, age, and other social categorizations throughout, we will marry gender and queer theory with works on representation and postfeminism, attending particularly to how ethnographic works have apprehended the role of media in producing, propagating, contesting, and distilling cultural notions of gender. While we will heavily examine widely-disseminated, economically-powerful imagery, we will also attend closely to alternative, resistant, and activist media, and to creative consumption or reparative reading. This class will meet online for nine synchronous sessions.

• America in World Civilization III

  The American Civ sequence examines America as a contested idea and a contested place by reading and writing about a wide array of primary sources. In the process, students gain a new sense of historical awareness and of the making of America.

• Congress in Chaos? Understanding Legislative Function and Dysfunction

  This course will introduce students to the workings of the contemporary Congress. We will examine who runs for — and who wins — seats in Congress, the lawmaking processes in the House and Senate, and the roles of parties and leaders in the two chambers. We will take stock of changes in the operation of the House and Senate, focusing in particular on the problems associated with extended debate in the Senate and leadership selection in the House.

• African Civilization 2

  African Civilzation 2 examines the transformations of African societies in the long nineteenth century. At the beginning of the era, European economic and political presence was mainly coastal. By the end of the era, nearly the entire continent was colonized. This course examines how and why this process occurred, highlighting the struggles of African societies to manage internal reforms and external political, military, and economic pressures. Students examine these processes through various primary sources (such as visual and material sources, cultural artifacts, and personal accounts) that highlight African perspectives on these processes. Assignments include oral presentations, document analyses, essays, and team projects.

• Colonizations III: Decolonization, Revolution, Freedom

  This course

• America in World Civilization II

  The American Civ sequence examines America as a contested idea and a contested place by reading and writing about a wide array of primary sources. In the process, students gain a new sense of historical awareness and of the making of America. The course is designed both for history majors and non-majors who want to deepen their understanding of the nation's history, encounter some enlightening and provocative voices from the past, and develop the qualitative methodology of historical thinking. The nineteenth-century segment of America in World Civilizations asks: What happens when democracy confronts inequality? We focus on themes that include indigenous-US relations; religious revivalism and reform; slavery, the Civil War, and emancipation; the intersection between women’s rights and anti slavery movements; the development of industrial capitalism; urbanism and social inequality.

• Introduction to Religious Studies

  What is religion? Is it the source of truth? Is it fiction? Believe it or not, religion affects what we think, what we do, and how we situate ourselves and others. In this introductory course, we will examine the intertwined histories of the concept of religion and the academic study of religion. We will familiarize ourselves with classical and contemporary theorists of religion and consider the methods, motivations, and historical contexts that have made their theories of religion possible. Along the way, we will survey key concepts such as myth and ritual and relate them to a broader set of problems concerning places, bodies, and politics. Throughout the course, we will discuss the functions of religion within societies, including secular societies, and consider the importance of the study of religion within and beyond the university.

• Fascism

  Developments in recent years have clearly shown a resurgent interest in "fascism". While it designates a phenomenon which might concern everyone, it is also a term used more often in the manner of an insult than a precisely defined concept. One might even say it is what W.B. Gallie once called an essentially contested concept—not because many claim it for themselves today, but on the contrary, because virtually everyone denounces it in their own specific way.

• African Civilization 1

  African Civilization 1 considers literary, oral, linguistic, and material sources to investigate African societies and states from the early Iron Age through the emergence of the Atlantic World. Case studies include: the empires of Ghana and Mali, the Swahili Coast, Great Zimbabwe, Nok of Nigeria, and medieval Ethiopia. We also consider religious and spiritual transformation, including Islam in Africa, as well as the origins and effects of European contact, and the emergence of the transatlantic trade in enslaved human beings. Students examine these times and places through primary sources (such as cultural artifacts, visual representations, myths, and memoirs) which illuminate African perspectives on these different places and times. Assignments include oral presentations, document analyses, essays, and team projects.

• Internet Censorship and Online Speech

  Information dissemination and online discourse on the Internet are subject to the algorithms and filters that operate on Internet infrastructure, from network firewalls to search engines. This course will explore the technologies that are used to control access to online speech and information, and cutting-edge technologies that can empower citizens in the face of these information controls. You will learn about and experiment with technologies to control online discourse, ranging from firewalls that perform network traffic filtering to algorithms for content personalization and content moderation. We will also explore underlying technical trends, such as the increasing consolidation of Internet infrastructure and protocols, and the implications of consolidation for control over online discourse. Each course meeting will include a technical overview, reading discussion, and a hands-on laboratory activity.

• The Programming Humanist: Text Analysis in the Age of AI

  Computational Humanities is transforming the study of literature, history, and culture.

• Mesoamerican Architecture

  This course will examine the range of architectural expression in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize from 1500 BCE to 1600 CE.

• Introduction to Latin American Civilization III

  This sequence introduces students to the history and cultures of Latin America, an area of the world that includes Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America), South America, and the Caribbean. It focuses on the long twentieth century (1870+), with emphasis on how Latin American peoples and nations have grappled with the challenges of development, inequality, imperialism, revolution, authoritarianism, racial difference, migration, urbanization, citizenship, violence, and the environment.

• Gender and Sexuality in World Civilizations II

  This two-course sequence aims to expand students’ exposure to an array of texts—theoretical, historical, religious, literary, visual—that address the fundamental place of gender and sexuality in the social, political, and cultural creations of different civilizations.

• Self, Culture, and Society 1 (20)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence.

• Self, Culture, and Society 3 (11)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The sequence starts with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society. Students then consider the cultural and social constitution of the self, foregrounding the exploration of sexuality, gender, and race.

• Self, Culture, and Society 2 (11)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The sequence starts with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society.

• Critical Videogame Studies

  Since the 1960s, games have blossomed into the world’s most profitable artistic and cultural form.

• Introduction to Biological Psychology

  This course will introduce undergraduate psychology students to the fundamentals of biological psychology and neuroscience. We will concentrate on the biological processes that underlie human and animal behavior. This course satisfies the upper division undergraduate core breadth requirement for the undergraduate major in Psychology.

• Self, Culture and Society 1 (10)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The first course in the sequence deals with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society. The social theories of Ibn Khaldun, Smith, Marx, and Weber, supplemented by historical and ethnographic works, serve as points of departure for considering the characterizing features of the modern world. Particular emphasis is given to socioeconomic structure, theories of historical change, possibilities for individual freedom, the meaning of work, and globalization. Classes are conducted as discussion seminars, rather than lectures, focused on the texts assigned. The focus will be on understanding complex arguments regarding the nature of modern social life.

• Policy Implementation

  Good public policy has the potential to advance justice in society. However, once a policy or program is established, there is the challenge of getting it carried out in ways intended by the policy makers or program designers.

• Psychological Research Methods

  This course introduces concepts and methods used in behavioral research. Topics include the nature of behavioral research, testing of research ideas, quantitative and qualitative techniques of data collection, artifacts in behavioral research, analyzing and interpreting research data, and ethical considerations in research.

• Systems Programming I

  This course is the first in a pair of courses designed to teach students about systems programming.

• Systems Programming II

  This course is a direct continuation of CMSC 14300. It covers the basics of computer systems from a programmer's perspective.

• Introduction to Econometrics

  The objective of this course is to introduce students to the practice of econometrics.

• Introductory Game Theory (Session 3)

  How should one bid at an auction in order to win at the lowest possible hammer price? How do firms behave when they possess market power but also face competition? Why do companies engage in R&D races in order to release their new products sooner than their competitors? Why do the Republicans and the Democrats almost always ended up choosing moderates as their party nominees in presidential races? To what extent can the veto power of presidents allow them to influence legislative outcomes?

• Introductory Statistical Methods and Applications for the Social Sciences

  This course introduces and applies fundamental statistical concepts, principles, and procedures to the analysis of data in the social and behavioral sciences. Students will learn computation, interpretation, and application of commonly used descriptive and inferential statistical procedures as they relate to social and behavioral research. These include z-test, t-test, bivariate correlation and simple linear regression with an introduction to analysis of variance and multiple regression.

• Introduction to Macroeconomic Analysis: A Data Driven Approach

  This course offers a comprehensive exploration of neoclassical macroeconomic models, designed for students who have previously studied the principles of macroeconomics.

• Principles of Macroeconomics

  Building on the analytical framework developed in ECON 10000, this course introduces macroeconomic theory and its applications in public policy. Coverage includes measurements, the determination of income, output, unemployment and inflation, long-run economic growth, business cycles, financial market and banking, monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade and finance, and history of thought. UC students may substitute "ECON 20200: The Elements of Economic Analysis III" for this course in the business economics track.

• Principles of Microeconomics

  This course introduces the principles and applications of price theory, which is a fundamental framework to analyze the decision-making process? of individuals and firms. The course is designed to develop problem-solving skills, both analytically and numerically, for students to be successful in subsequent coursework in the major. Coverage includes consumer theory, producer theory, determinants of demand and supply, market structures, equilibrium and welfare analysis, government intervention, international trade policy, and market failure and externalities. UC students may substitute "ECON 20000: The Elements of Economic Analysis I" for this course in the business economics track.

• History of Western Civilization 2

  This sequence fulfills the general education requirement in civilization studies. The purpose of this three-course sequence is (1) to introduce students to the principles of historical thought and to provide them with the critical tools for analyzing texts produced in the distant or near past, (2) to acquaint them with some of the more important epochs in the development of European civilization since the sixth century B.C.E, and (3) to assist them in discovering the developmental connections between these various epochs.

• History of Western Civilization 1

  This sequence fulfills the general education requirement in civilization studies. The purpose of this three-course sequence is (1) to introduce students to the principles of historical thought and to provide them with the critical tools for analyzing texts produced in the distant or near past, (2) to acquaint them with some of the more important epochs in the development of European civilization since the sixth century B.C.E, and (3) to assist them in discovering the developmental connections between these various epochs. This first course focuses on the history of Classical civilization, beginning with the world of Homer and ending with the world of St. Augustine. The sequence does not present a general survey of European history, but rather undertakes an intensive investigation of original documents bearing on a number of discrete topics in European civilization (e.g., the Roman Republic, or the origins of the First World War). These original documents are contained in the nine-volume series published by The University of Chicago Press, The University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization. The course also draws on supplementary materials from the work of modern historians.

• Labor Economics

  This course is an introduction to labor economics with an emphasis on applied microeconomic theory and empirical analysis. Topics to be covered include: labor supply and demand, taxes and transfers, minimum wages, immigration, human capital, creativity over the lifecycle and unemployment. For each topic we will describe the basic economic framework used in the analysis, analyze associated cases studies and draw conclusions about what we have learned. Most of the examples will be based on U.S. labor data. A special attention will be given to randomized trials and experimental methods to infer causality.

• Econometrics

  This course covers the single and multiple linear regression model, the associated distribution theory, and testing procedures; corrections for heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, and simultaneous equations; and other extensions as time permits. Students also apply the techniques to a variety of data sets using PCs. This course is required of UC students who are majoring in economics. Those students are encouraged to meet this requirement by the end of their third year.

• Elements of Economic Analysis 3

  As an introduction to macroeconomic theory and policy, this course covers the determination of aggregate demand (i.e., consumption, investment, the demand for money); aggregate supply; and the interaction between aggregate demand and supply.

• Elements of Economic Analysis 2

  This course examines demand and supply as factors of production and the distribution of income in the economy. It also considers some elementary general equilibrium theory and welfare economics.

• Elements of Economic Analysis 1

  This course is an introduction to the "economic approach" as it is applied to consumer behavior. We will stress the notion that individuals maximize their well-being, as they conceive it, subject to resource constraints.

• Introduction to Development Economics

  The course explores one of the most pressing global challenges: poverty. Through a microeconomic and empirical lens, students learn to analyze the economic lives of the poor, examining why poverty persists, and which interventions have been effective to sustainably improve the lives of poor people in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).

• Basics of Corporate, Banking and Investment Finance

  This course introduces the basics of corporate finance, investments, and banking, with an emphasis on real-world applications. It is a rigorous introduction to various facets of financial economics that a practitioner in the field handles, preparing you for a career in financial economics and allied industries including banking, investment management, and capital markets. It also serves as a gateway to the more advanced courses on these topics. We shall discuss capital structure, corporate valuation, financial statement analysis, cost of capital, interest rates, yield curve analysis, monetary policy impact, risk and return analysis, portfolio theory, capital asset pricing model and financial instruments. Friday lab sessions will include a case study, discussions with industry alumni, and preparation for upcoming recruiting cycles.

• Introduction to the Macroeconomics of Monetary and Fiscal Policy

  This course examines monetary and fiscal issues in the macroeconomy.

• Introductory Game Theory (Sept)

  How should one bid at an auction in order to win at the lowest possible hammer price? How do firms behave when they possess market power but also face competition? Why do companies engage in R&D races in order to release their new products sooner than their competitors? Why do the Republicans and the Democrats almost always ended up choosing moderates as their party nominees in presidential races? To what extent can the veto power of presidents allow them to influence legislative outcomes?

• Elementary Logic

  An introduction to the concepts and principles of symbolic logic. We learn the syntax and semantics of truth-functional and first-order quantificational logic, and apply the resultant conceptual framework to the analysis of valid and invalid arguments, the structure of formal languages, and logical relations among sentences of ordinary discourse.

• Approaches to Social Science Research Design

  This course explores critical foundations of social science research design. It will place an emphasis on how social scientists identify and create data to empirically examine social phenomena through a variety of different theoretical and methodological approaches. It will cover the relationship between research questions, design, and generating data across different methodological and epistemological approaches in the social sciences.

• Computing for the Social Sciences

  This is an applied course for social scientists with little-to-no programming experience who wish to harness growing digital and computational resources. The course focuses on analyzing data and generating reproducible research through the use of the programming language R and version control software. Topics include coding concepts (e.g., data structures, control structures, functions, etc.), data visualization, data wrangling and cleaning, exploratory data analysis, etc. Major emphasis is placed on a pragmatic understanding of core principles of programming and packaged implementations of methods. You will leave the course with basic computational and R skills. While not becoming expert programmer, you will gain the knowledge of how to adapt and expand these skills as they are presented with new questions, methods, and data.

• Self, Culture and Society 3 (12)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The sequence starts with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society. Students then consider the cultural and social constitution of the self, foregrounding the exploration of sexuality, gender, and race. In the third course of the sequence, students critically examine dominant discourses of science, individuality, and alterity, keeping an eye towards the application of social theory to contemporary concerns. Beginning with post-modern, post-colonial, and other critiques of sciences of self, culture, and society (as articulated by Kuhn, Foucault, and Said), the course investigates how new theories arise and new problems are addressed, how new perspectives (more global, more inclusive) test and challenge, and how social scientists change, renew, and improve their insights. The course focuses on topics of contemporary concern, including the human impact on the environment, feminism outside the West, and the rise of global cities. Classes are conducted as discussion seminars, rather than lectures, focused on the texts assigned. The focus will be on understanding complex arguments regarding the nature of modern social life.

• Self, Culture and Society 2 (10)

  The “Self, Culture, and Society” sequence introduces students to a broad range of social scientific theories and methodologies that deepen their understanding of basic problems of cultural, social, and historical existence. The sequence starts with the conceptual foundations of political economy and theories of capitalism and meaning in modern society. In the second course of the sequence, students consider the cultural and social constitution of the self, foregrounding the exploration of sexuality, gender, and race and tackle questions about the construction of self and society. The works of Durkheim, Freud, de Beauvoir, Fanon, and others inform investigation of symbolic representation, the strength of social forces, the unconscious, culture, ethics and violence, sexuality, gender, and race. Classes are conducted as discussion seminars, rather than lectures, focused on the texts assigned. The focus will be on understanding complex arguments regarding the nature of modern social life.

• Emerging World Leaders

  Drawing upon our rich tradition of rigorous inquiry and groundbreaking scholarship, the University of Chicago has long been a global pioneer in advancing knowledge and research. Our students and professors are fearless problem solvers who engage in interdisciplinary thinking with a ferocity that defines our culture as one of the world’s greatest intellectual destinations.

• Neubauer Family Adelante Summer Scholars

  Thanks to the vision and the generosity of the Neubauer family, this program brings together talented students from across the United States. Outstanding students are invited to apply for an opportunity to participate in a week-long enrichment program featuring interdisciplinary classes with leading faculty, tours of UChicago’s cutting-edge research facilities, and college application workshops.

• Young Innovators: Climate & Energy

  To meet the global energy challenge, the next generation of climate and energy scientists must address the need for reliable, affordable energy to foster economic growth while averting climate change and damages to the environment. This one-week residential program provides talented and ambitious students a window into future careers in the realm of climate and energy policy. Through rigorous discussion-based classes, readings, lectures, and collaborative hands-on projects, students will learn about pressing issues in climate and energy from leading faculty in the

• The Philosophy of Life and Death

  The focus of this course will be how philosophy arises in response to problems in the conditions of human life, especially our mortality and the prevalence of social injustice.

• The World of Greek Philosophy

  This course will serve as an introduction to ancient Greek philosophy and literature of the pre-Classical, Classical, and Hellenistic Greek world, and their conceptions that at once influence and differ from our own. In addition to discussing traditional Greek understandings of virtue, honor, and happiness, we will consider how intellectual life was believed to help people find meaning, purpose,and self-fulfillment and shape their ethics. We will recreate the experience of Greek intellectual culture in simulated marketplace disputations and (nonalcoholic) symposia while reading and discussing works from Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Euripides, Euclid, and the Stoics, in an effort to understand not just what but how they thought.

• Religion and Unbelief

  What does it mean to be religious? What does it mean to be critical of religion? What does it mean to have a religious critique? Can one be spiritual but not religious? Can one lack religion?

• Foundations of Psychological Research

  This course introduces students to the basic concepts and methods used in conducting psychological research in order to gain understanding of how science can be used to answer questions about thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

• Economics from an Experimental Perspective - Session 2

  A growing field in which the University of Chicago has been a leader, experimental economics uses experimental methods (i.e. observing everyday interactions and decisions made by people either in the lab or in the field) to explore economic questions ranging from how markets and other exchange systems work to what motivates people to make decisions about matters such as conserving environmental resources or donating to charitable causes. You will participate in laboratory experiments and discuss the results, thereby learning the underlying economic principles and the economic questions that the experiments were designed to address. You will also engage in solving specific economic problems both individually and in a group.

• Pathways in World Politics

  International relations explores the consequences of the world having multiple, interacting national governments, rather than a single world government. International relations offers conceptual tools for understanding the causes of and possible solutions to many of the challenges facing the world today, including global pandemics, wars, nuclear proliferation, economic crises, and climate change. This three-week course will introduce students to the scientific study of world politics, focusing on such issues as the creation of international organizations like the United Nations, the regulation of the global economy, and applied diplomacy. The course is a combination of standard classroom material (lectures, readings, and discussion) and diplomacy simulations. You will come away with a comprehension of politics among nations, which can bolster a future career in business, government, journalism, education, law, or nonprofit organizations. This course will also make you better informed global citizen poised to make informed decisions and interventions in an increasingly complex world.

• Developmental Psychology: Theories and Techniques

  In just a few short years, infants go from helpless beings who cannot even hold their heads up to walking, talking, thinking people who are able to understand complex games, infer intentions in others, and even engage in reflexive thought (i.e., thinking about thinking). In this class, we will explore this transition by studying major theories of developmental psychology, examining how the mind (and correspondingly, the brain) changes from infancy through adolescence. We will focus on primary empirical sources investigating the development and integration of perceptual, cognitive, and social skills. Lecture and discussion will emphasize the complex interplay between biological, psychological, and sociocultural elements throughout the life span in domains such as language, emotions, morality, and intelligence. You will develop and execute your own experimental research project in small groups.

• Pathways in Economics

  This program introduces students to the approaches to economic research and experimentation that make UChicago a world leader in the field. Full-time lecturers in the Department of Economics teach classes on topics in macroeconomics, microeconomics, game theory, and field experiments, drawing on research that applies the tools and insights of the field in new and exciting ways. Students will apply what they hear about in lectures during small group discussion sections facilitated by a team of outstanding current UChicago students, as well as in labs, problem sets, group projects, and other activities.

• Legal Reasoning and Institutions

  This course will introduce students to the basic principles of legal reasoning -- how to think like a lawyer -- and provide students with an overview of the legal system.

• How Societies Work (or Don't) - Session 1

  How do societies work? Why do they so often seem to break down and fail? Should we even expect societies to “work” as cohesive entities, or should we assume that they are always rife with conflict, inequality and power struggles?

• Fundamentals of Psychology: Theory & Research

  This course introduces basic concepts and research in the study of human behavior. A breadth of topics will be included such as: sensation and perception, emotions, memory, development, and psychological disorders.

• Introduction to Macroeconomic Models

  This course offers a comprehensive exploration of neoclassical macroeconomic models. Students will develop an in-depth understanding and analytical skills through frameworks and applications. The course emphasizes how these models explain economic growth, business cycles, and policy implications in modern economies.

• The Global Political Economy: Power and Inequality (in-person)

  Since the 1970s, economic inequality has been steadily rising. Today, the world’s richest 1% own 44% of the world’s total stock of wealth. The problem is especially acute in the United States, where three individuals alone own more wealth than the bottom half of the country combined.

• The Theory and Politics of Capitalism

  It is impossible to graduate from college without repeatedly encountering the term "capitalism." But what is it, actually? Where did it come from? What has changes since its inception? Is it primarily a political or an economic system? What is the difference and why does it matter?

• The Age of Capital: Freedom and Crisis

  What is capitalism? Did the rise of capitalism mark an advance or crisis for humankind? How have our ideas about ourselves, nature, and the highest aims of life, been shaped by life under capitalism? With the collapse of state socialism, is capitalism still a politically relevant idea? The objective of this course is to introduce students to foundational works that contend with the historical rise, conceptual categories, and crisis of capitalism.

• International Environmental Policy: An Introduction

  This course will serve as an introduction to the origins of the international community’s focus on environmental issues, as well as a study of the issues and challenges faced by the nations of the world in the present time. The diverse methods used by countries to address different issues will be examined and analyzed for their effectiveness and lasting impact. Issues such as climate change, relocation, population issues (relating to both increases and decreases), environmental rights, and the ozone layer will be among those explored, with attention as well to the efforts of non-governmental organizations in developing solutions.

• Human Rights Fieldwork and Practice

  This course introduces students to the principles and practices of conducting research in the field of human rights. Blending theory with applied methodology, the course explores how rights are claimed, negotiated, and contested in diverse contexts—from international courts to grassroots movements.

• How Societies Work (or Don't) - Session 2

  How do societies work? Why do they so often seem to break down and fail? Should we even expect societies to “work” as cohesive entities, or should we assume that they are always rife with conflict, inequality and power struggles?

• Economics from an Experimental Perspective - Session 1

  A growing field in which the University of Chicago has been a leader, experimental economics uses experimental methods (i.e. observing everyday interactions and decisions made by people either in the lab or in the field) to explore economic questions ranging from how markets and other exchange systems work to what motivates people to make decisions about matters such as conserving environmental resources or donating to charitable causes. You will participate in laboratory experiments and discuss the results, thereby learning the underlying economic principles and the economic questions that the experiments were designed to address. You will also engage in solving specific economic problems both individually and in a group.

• Correlation or Causation? Applied Causal Reasoning in Economics

  Every day we are surrounded by claims about what causes what: from “minimum wages raise unemployment levels” to “new supplement in the market improves focus and grades.” But how do we know which of these claims are true? In a world with abundance of data, the challenge is not finding information, but correctly assessing patterns from the real world.

• The SDG Challenge Program: Sustainable Development Goals and Policy Intervention

  The

• The Politics of Economic Development

  This course explores the intersection between politics and economics to understand why some countries are more developed than others. We will touch on several themes that impact developmental outcomes, including political institutions and regimes, corruption and rule of law, foreign aid, and natural resources.

• The Global Political Economy: Power and Inequality (remote)

  Since the 1970s, economic inequality has been steadily rising. Today, the world’s richest 1% own 44% of the world’s total stock of wealth. The problem is especially acute in the United States, where three individuals alone own more wealth than the bottom half of the country combined.

• Understanding AI: AI Through a Technical, Socio-Ethical, and Career Development Lens

  Generative AI, large language models (LLMs) -- these buzzwords have been popping up in newsrooms, classrooms, and dinner tables. This discussion-intensive, hands-on course provides students with a foundational understanding of AI through a technical, socio-ethical, and career development lens. No prior computing or AI experience is necessary to take this course. This class will give students the opportunity to:

• Leadership, Engagement, and Discourse (UChicago LEAD)

  This two-week residential program equips high school students with civic leadership skills through hands-on engagement with real-world issues.

• Career Insight: Business and Entrepreneurship

  Become a leader with an eye for opportunities!

• Career Insight: Law and Social Impact

  Make a difference in the courthouse, legislature, think tank, or NGO!

• Emerging Rural Leaders 10th

  Thanks to the generous support of business leader Ray Iwanowski (MBA ’97), selected students from rural and small-town high schools are invited to participate in a one-week residential program between their sophomore and junior years of high school.

• Career Insight: Healthcare and Biological Sciences

  Delve into medicine, public health, or research!

• Biology and Its Modern Applications (31)

  This course aims at developing the basic concepts that form the crux of life from both structural and functional perspectives. It will cover cellular functioning and organization and the transformation of energy. In addition, concepts of evolution and natural selection will be investigated. The course also introduces the student to the continuity of life from genetic and molecular perspectives.

• Biology and Its Modern Applications (30)

  This course aims at developing the basic concepts that form the crux of life from both structural and functional perspectives. It will cover cellular functioning and organization and the transformation of energy. In addition, concepts of evolution and natural selection will be investigated. The course also introduces the student to the continuity of life from genetic and molecular perspectives.

• Quantum Quickstart

  Quantum mechanics has reshaped how we see the world around us, being hailed as a science with the potential to fundamentally redefine the technological landscape and our society. Information encoded in quantum bits is known to be completely secure from hacking; computers running on quantum algorithms can solve problems that no classical computer could ever solve; and quantum systems enable the world’s most precise measurements.

• Emerging Rural Leaders 9th

  What does it mean to be a “leader” to you personally? How does one choose to be a leader? How can you create a better future for yourself and your community by leading with courage, capacity, and wisdom? In this one-week introductory course, students will learn about the importance of leadership and civic discourse from a variety of academic and social perspectives.

• Emerging Rural Leaders 11th

  Thanks to the generous support of Trott Family Philanthropies, the College is excited to host the Emerging Rural Leaders 11th program for high achieving students who attend rural and small-town high schools across the United States. Top juniors from rural and small-town high schools are invited to apply for an opportunity to participate in a week-long enrichment program featuring interdisciplinary classes with leading faculty, tours of UChicago’s cutting-edge research facilities, and college application workshops. Students will also be exposed to the kinds of opportunities available in a large urban center for academic work and professional development through activities that showcase the city of Chicago.

• New Horizons

  Drawing upon UChicago’s rich tradition of rigorous, interdisciplinary scholarship, this summer program invites outstanding high school students to gain an

• Exploring Frontiers

  Outstanding students who attend high school in California or the New York metropolitan area, who are eager to learn how interdisciplinary study brings together different fields, and who seek an insider's view into the capabilities and resources of a top research university are invited to apply. Through a week of readings, lectures, discussion, and hands-on applications, learn from leading faculty on topics including Chicago-style Economics, Problems in Policy Implementation, Ancient Greek Thought, Neuroscience, Black Holes, and experience the College’s distinctive Core Curriculum. Become part of a community and make lasting friendships through interactive House activities on campus and excursions in the city to take in breathtaking architecture, live music, world-class museums, and of course, deep dish pizza.

• Young Innovators Program (YIP)

  The Young Innovators Program empowers high achieving students for academic and career success in STEM innovation. In partnership with Invenergy, an industry leader in renewable and clean energy generation, and the Polsky Foundation, students have access to experiential learning opportunities, mentorship from industry leaders, and a network of entrepreneurial peers. This program is a one-week, in-person experience in July on UChicago’s campus.

• Career Insight: Technology and Innovation

  Move future-forward in pursuits like AI, human-computer interface, nanotechnology, and climate engineering!

• Proof-based Discrete Mathematics

  This course will introduce you to higher-level mathematical argumentation and proof, an understanding of which is crucial to making the transition from high school to undergraduate math coursework.

• Mathematical and Computational Research in Biological Sciences

  What can a person’s genome reveal? Could it predict the diseases they may develop? Modern biology produces vast amounts of data, and analyzing this data requires mathematical and computational approaches.

• Physics of Stars: An Introduction

  Understanding how stars work - what makes them shine - is one of the great accomplishments of 20th-century science. The theory of stellar structure allows us to investigate the interiors of stars, even though what we observe is radiation from their outer atmospheres. This theory also helps us determine how old stars are, how they create heavier nuclei from lighter nuclei in their centers, and how they evolve from birth to death, ending as a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

• Quantitative Evaluation for Public Policy - Session 1

  How do we know whether a policy delivers its promised results or falls short? If it delivers, how do we know whether it was by chance or a true result that would replicate in a similar setting? If it is a true result, will it scale if implemented more broadly?

• Quantitative Evaluation for Public Policy - Session 2

  How do we know whether a policy delivers its promised results or falls short? If it delivers, how do we know whether it was by chance or a true result that would replicate in a similar setting? If it is a true result, will it scale if implemented more broadly?

• Visual Language: On Images (10)

  Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content.

• Black Holes

  White dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, the so-called compact objects, are among the most remarkable object in the universe. Their most distinctive feature which ultimately is the one responsible for their amazing properties is their prodigiously high density. All compact objects are the product of the final stages of stellar evolution. White dwarfs have masses comparable to that of the Sun but with the size of the Earth, they come from "smallish" stars that run out of nuclear fuel and settle down to a quiet life of slowly fading away. Neutron stars and black holes come from much more massive stars that end their lives in a spectacular explosion known as a supernova. In a neutron star the mass of the Sun is concentrated in the size of a city. The density is so high that even electron and proton get squished together to form neutrons (hence the name). In a black hole the density is so high that nothing can counter gravity and eventually the collapsing star folds the space-time around itself and disappears inside a "surface of no return”- the event horizon. In this course we will address the progenitor problem--which stars become which compact object. We will examine the properties of each type of compact object and address the issue of their remarkable structure. For the case of black holes, we will see that they are completely geometrical, and in some real sense, the most perfect objects in the universe.

• Visual Language: On Images (11)

  Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content.

• Visual Language: On Images (12)

  Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content.

• The Power of Fantasy: Advanced Critical Writing and Analysis (Session 1)

  Is fantasy really just an “escape” from reality, or might it actually provide us new ways of understanding and reimaging our world and our sense of self? From literature and film to the visual and performing arts, fantasy remains one of the most powerful and popular forms. Where does this power come from?

• Introduction to Latin American Civilization II

  This course sequence introduces students to the history and cultures of Latin America, an area of the world that includes Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America), South America, and the Caribbean.

• Gender and Sexuality in World Civilizations I

  This two-course sequence aims to expand students’ exposure to an array of texts—theoretical, historical, religious, literary, visual—that address the fundamental place of gender and sexuality in the social, political, and cultural creations of different civilizations.

• Schooling and Identity

  This is an advanced, discussion-based seminar, open to both undergraduate and graduate students, examining the dynamic relations between schooling and identity.

• Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

  This course seeks to develop an appreciation and understanding of a variety of processes by which dramatic scripts are theatrically realized, with an emphasis on the text’s role in theatrical production rather than as literature.

• Language, Culture, and Education: An Introduction

  In this course, we examine past and current research about unequal educational achievement in US schools, with a focus on the role of language and culture in explaining student achievement.

• Democracy Against Itself: From Antiquity to Modernity

  How can we make sense of the global democratic crisis that dominates today’s headlines? What do the historical and political transformations of democracy, from its ancient beginnings to its modern forms, reveal about our current moment? Across the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, democratic institutions seem increasingly fragile, with widespread discontent impacting public life. Whereas the ancients related to democracy in more direct terms, its modern trajectory has been marked by paradoxes obscuring our understanding of democratic ideals.

• The Power of Fantasy: Advanced Critical Writing and Analysis (Session 2)

  Is fantasy really just an “escape” from reality, or might it actually provide us new ways of understanding and reimaging our world and our sense of self? From literature and film to the visual and performing arts, fantasy remains one of the most powerful and popular forms. Where does this power come from?

• Human Rights: Foundational Concepts, Global Challenges

  What does it mean to have "human rights"? How does the understanding of these rights shape the world we live in today?

• Global Challenges to Human Rights

  This course will introduce students to the field of human rights through two specific lenses.

• Plants, Pathogens, and People

  Students will explore the major plant disease causing pathogens and how scientists and farmers are working to protect our food supply. You will explore the biology of the major groups of disease-causing microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, and nematodes).

• Philosophy of Mind

  This is a survey of some of the central questions in the philosophy of mind.

• Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind

  This course introduces students to issues and questions that have defined scholarship in the philosophy of mind as well as to prominent theories in the field.

• Analysis in Rn I

  MATH 20300 covers the construction of the real numbers, the topology of R^n including the Bolzano-Weierstrass and Heine-Borel theorems, and a detailed treatment of abstract metric spaces, including convergence and completeness, compact sets, continuous mappings, and more.

• Introduction to International Trade

  This course covers international economics with an emphasis on international trade. The basic theories of international trade are introduced and used to analyze welfare and distributional effects of international trade, government policies, and technology diffusion.

• Inquiry, Conversation, Argument: What Does Business Owe Society?

  Inquiry, Conversation, Argument (ICA) is a one-quarter intensive writing seminar that supports students in developing the skills and habits of mind necessary to participate at the University of Chicago and beyond. By emphasizing analytical composition and revision, this course helps students understand, practice, and appreciate writing as a recursive process. This process is both challenging and valuable, as it produces and refines ideas through sustained critical inquiry and as a means of cultivating free expression. Each section of ICA is motivated by a distinct interpretive question, which students explore from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. Scaffolded sequences of exercises and essays help students learn to read critically and creatively, analyze evidence, structure complex ideas, and develop independent arguments by making original claims that contribute to ongoing intellectual conversations.

• Inquiry, Conversation, Argument: What Does the Idea of Utopia Suggest About Human Nature?

  Inquiry, Conversation, Argument (ICA) is a one-quarter intensive writing seminar that supports students in developing the skills and habits of mind necessary to participate at the University of Chicago and beyond. By emphasizing analytical composition and revision, this course helps students understand, practice, and appreciate writing as a recursive process. This process is both challenging and valuable, as it produces and refines ideas through sustained critical inquiry and as a means of cultivating free expression. Each section of ICA is motivated by a distinct interpretive question, which students explore from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. Scaffolded sequences of exercises and essays help students learn to read critically and creatively, analyze evidence, structure complex ideas, and develop independent arguments by making original claims that contribute to ongoing intellectual conversations.

• Inquiry, Conversation, Argument: Are We More Than Our Habits?

  Inquiry, Conversation, Argument (ICA) is a one-quarter intensive writing seminar that supports students in developing the skills and habits of mind necessary to participate at the University of Chicago and beyond. By emphasizing analytical composition and revision, this course helps students understand, practice, and appreciate writing as a recursive process. This process is both challenging and valuable, as it produces and refines ideas through sustained critical inquiry and as a means of cultivating free expression. Each section of ICA is motivated by a distinct interpretive question, which students explore from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. Scaffolded sequences of exercises and essays help students learn to read critically and creatively, analyze evidence, structure complex ideas, and develop independent arguments by making original claims that contribute to ongoing intellectual conversations.

• Urban Structure and Process

  This course reviews competing theories of urban development, especially their ability to explain the changing nature of cities under the impact of advanced industrialism.

• States, Markets, and Bodies

  An introduction to political economy, this course will introduce students to theories, concepts, and tools for studying relations between states and markets that affect the structure of power relationships.

• Classics of Social and Political Thought III

  The Classics of Social and Political Thought sequence serves to introduce students to some seminal texts, issues, and problems in the history of social and political theory. Issues we will address this quarter include: the emergence of a mass-based social order and possibilities for ameliorating the excesses of such an order, the status of the individual and the possibility of human excellence in mass societies, the relationship between Christianity and the modern social and political order, radical critiques of liberal-capitalist and mass-based social orders, differing notions of emancipation, the social consequences of the death of God, the conditions for and logic of totalitarianism, and the possibilities for and limitations on genuine human agency and political responsibility.

• Classics of Social and Political Thought II

  "Classics of Social and Political Thought" reads classic texts from Plato and Aristotle to Nietzsche and DuBois in order to investigate criteria for understanding and judging political, social, and economic institutions. What is justice? What makes a good society?

• Classics of Social and Political Thought I

  "Classics of Social and Political Thought" reads classic texts from Plato and Aristotle to Nietzsche and DuBois in order to investigate criteria for understanding and judging political, social, and economic institutions. What is justice? What makes a good society?

• Inquiry, Conversation, Argument: Why Tell Stories of War?

  Inquiry, Conversation, Argument (ICA) is a one-quarter intensive writing seminar that supports students in developing the skills and habits of mind necessary to participate at the University of Chicago and beyond. By emphasizing analytical composition and revision, this course helps students understand, practice, and appreciate writing as a recursive process. This process is both challenging and valuable, as it produces and refines ideas through sustained critical inquiry and as a means of cultivating free expression. Each section of ICA is motivated by a distinct interpretive question, which students explore from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. Scaffolded sequences of exercises and essays help students learn to read critically and creatively, analyze evidence, structure complex ideas, and develop independent arguments by making original claims that contribute to ongoing intellectual conversations.

• Participant Observation and Interviews: Introduction to Ethnographic Methods

  This course is designed to provide students in the social sciences with a review of qualitative research methods, particularly participant observation and interviews. We will unpack major debates on ethnographic and interview-based research, and you will have opportunities to try your hand at practicing fieldwork, designing interview guides, and conducting interviews. Class debates will cover epistemological, ethical, and practical matters in ethnographic research.